Spoonbill

Was out runnin around the the river today, had the young kids with us so basically just riding and bream fishin. They have no patience for cats yet..:tounge_out:.

Anyway, saw something really cool, saw not one, but two spoonbill catfish come completely out of the water like a dolphin. Anyone caught one on the AL river?? If so what is a good bait....i'd like to catch one somtime, just for a picture and put em back... Maybe it's common, but I just had not seen one before...so it was the highlight of the day...

Nevermind, I just read that your not suppose to fish for them and release them immediatly if ya accidentally catch one. Maybe I'll get one on a cat line someday, take a pic and put it back...:big_smile: Anyway, was cool to see some......

Was out runnin around the the river today, had the young kids with us so basically just riding and bream fishin. They have no patience for cats yet..:tounge_out:.

Anyway, saw something really cool, saw not one, but two spoonbill catfish come completely out of the water like a dolphin. Anyone caught one on the AL river?? If so what is a good bait....i'd like to catch one somtime, just for a picture and put em back... Maybe it's common, but I just had not seen one before...so it was the highlight of the day...

Good fishin
mike

Click to expand...

The spoonies might be protected in Alabama, but here in Oklahoma they're fair game.

The spoonies are plankton eaters. They strain the water with raker gills to remove the plankton from the water. Their mouth might be big enough to engulf a basketball, but their throat is so small they'd choke on a walnut.

A 5 foot spoonbill puts up quite a fight when snagged... and that;s te only way short of a net to catch them. The meat is great... and as a bonus, has no bones!

Thanks , yeh...looks like they are protected here. Not sure why these fish were jumping?? I thoiught maybe they found themselves a school of small baitfish... but if they are algae eaters then I don't know??? I mean they were like all the way out of the water...and this was about a 4 - 5 foot fish...

mike... you probably were witnessing the spawning of a female. I've seen the males force the female to the surface with their bumping of her abdomen, forcing the eggs out of her then they will swirl trough the eggs releasing their milt. The eggs fall to the bottom and stick to rocks for a week or so until the fertile ones hatch.

hey mike i have cought about 4 of them in my life. all on the al river. all of them accidentally foul hooked. usually on shad guts (the green stuff) i dont think any of them were trying to eat the guts... just curious about the smell maybe. ive got a good pick of one at home, ill try to get it on here.

It was a female carrying over 5 pounds of roe which I made into caviar. She also provided about twenty pounds of fantastic boneless eating for my family. The flesh has the texture and flavor of blacktip shark. It grills nicely and is totally delicious.:still_dreaming:

Now, before everyone goes ballistic, these fish are not protected in Oklahoma and are in fact a regulated game fish. They are quite common here and they grow fast... the female in the picture was probably about 5 years old. It would take at least 30 years for a blue catfish to reach the same proportions.:0a26: